The invention relates to a device for monitoring a conveyor, comprising:                a conveyor belt made of elastomer material, having a carrying side for the goods to be conveyed, and a running side, whereby the conveyor belt has, in particular, an embedded strength support (e.g. steel ropes, woven fabric);        an optoelectronic system that optically detects the belt surface, particularly the carrying side, in that it recognizes damage during operation, and if a critical state of the conveyor belt is reached, shuts the system down, so that repair measures can be initiated in timely manner;        a process computer with which the optoelectronic system is coupled, for the purpose of evaluating all of the data, whereby the processor is particularly connected with a drive control; as well as        other system parts, namely a non-driven drum, support rollers, support scaffolding, as well as any other components that might be necessary.        
Since conveyor belts are often the most important part in mine systems, and their failure can frequently result in a complete shut-down of production, methods for automatic, continuous monitoring of the conveyor belts are required. Aside from the known methods of slit monitoring (DE 44 44 264 C2) and connection monitoring (EP 1 053 447 B1), methods for monitoring the entire belt surface are also in demand, in order to recognize wear damage or surface impact damage or its further development during operation, and to shut the belt down if a critical state is reached, or to initiate repair measures in timely manner.
To achieve this goal, the use of optoelectronic systems, particularly in the form of electronic camera systems (line camera or surface camera), was proposed, and reference is made, in particular, to the following state of the art:
DE 100 29 545 A1
DE 101 00 813 A1
DE 101 29 091 A1
DE 101 40 920 A1
EP 1 187 781 B1
EP 1 222 126 B1
These optoelectronic systems generate images of the belt surface to be monitored. However, automatic assessment and evaluation of the image information obtained in this manner is very difficult, particularly if the change over time of discrete zones of the conveyor belt surface is supposed to be detected. It is true that methods have been described that can be used to identify certain structures of the belt surface, for example splices (connections), with a certain degree of probability. But in order to be able to carry out effective automatic monitoring of the belt as a whole, localization of any desired point of the belt with millimeter accuracy is required, since only in this way is it possible to follow up the development of damage over a certain period of time, using automatic image processing software.